It’s true – coffee doesn’t grow in Armenia. Never has, probably never will. The origins of that drink, today one of the most valuable traded commodities of the world, are to be found in a region of Ethiopia known as Kaffa. The story goes that a goatherd was surprised by the increased energy of his animals after they munched on the beans of a plant. Those beans, roasted and ground, brewed and drunk, turned out to have the same effect on humans.
From Ethiopia, through the Arab world, up through the Ottoman lands, those beans made their way into the hands of the traders...